When the website of rock star Gene Simmons fell victim to a denial-of-service attack for five days in October 2010, the legendary KISS front man vowed revenge.

Yesterday, a 24-year-old man suspected of being linked to the Anonymous hacktivist group was arrested by the FBI in relation to the attack.

Kevin George Poe, of Manchester, Connecticut, was charged with conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer.

Gene Simmons became the focus of hacktivists’ attention after he spoke on a panel about building entertainment brands at the MIPCOM convention in Cannes:

"Make sure your brand is protected. Make sure there are no incursions. Be litigious. Sue everybody. Take their homes, their cars. Don't let anybody cross that line, The music industry was asleep at the wheel, and didn't have the balls to sue every fresh-faced, freckle-faced college kid who downloaded material. And so now we're left with hundreds of thousands of people without jobs. There's no industry."

The KISS star’s opinions didn’t go down too well with many fans of P2P file-sharing, and his website genesimmons.com was brought down by the denial-of-service attack, before ultimately being redirected to the controversial Pirate Bay torrent site.

According to prosecutors, Poe – using the online handle of ‘spydr101’ – and others used the Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC) to overload Simmons’s website and shut it down.

Gaining control over his website again, Gene Simmons published a statement in typically uncompromising, macho style:

Some of you may have heard a few popcorn farts re: our sites being threatened by hackers.

Our legal team and the FBI have been on the case and we have found a few, shall we say "adventurous" young people, who feel they are above the law.

And, as stated in my MIPCOM speech, we will sue their pants off.

First, they will be punished.

Second, they might find their little butts in jail, right next to someone who's been there for years and is looking for a new girl friend.

We will soon be printing their names and pictures.We will find you.You cannot hide.

Stay tuned

If convicted, Poe could face up to 15 years in federal prison.

Anyone considering participating in a denial-of-service attack might be wise to remember that it is against the law, and punishments can be severe.

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About the author

Graham Cluley runs his own award-winning computer security blog at https://www.grahamcluley.com, and is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and gives computer security presentations. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley

What a seriously stupid reason to waste one's life. Stop Gene Simons from using his site, get 15 years. Talk about paying a big price for absolutely no gain. But this is what happens when groups such as Anonymous make it seem like hacking is cool, underground, and elite. They get young followers to ruin their lives.

Thanks. I think programs should be created to show the younger generation that it is much more rewarding and challenging to fix vulnerabilities and holes instead of hacking. Get them out of 4chan and into clubs that draw them into a bright future. I can’t tell you how many posts I see showing that they think if they succesfully hack something, then the CIA will somehow recruit them and pay big money. Its a movie dream.

On the story, I wonder if Gene and the FBI set a trap, and Gene taunted them knowing they would strike. If so, well done. This will probably happen more and more often, until these groups become obsolete because they can’t know where to strike.

One question iamwired. Where are these kids parents? Shouldn't we start there? Why should I have to give up my tax dollars to fund an "afterschool" program for these idiots? Put the kids parents in jail – we'll see how long they keep their computers and internet access after their parents spend a week in jail. It's time parents stop using the computer and internet as a cheap babysitter and actually invest some time into parenting – or don't be a parent.

I was horrified that Gene Simmons feels that being sodomized is an appropriate punishment for some (admittedly severe) inconvenience. As far as I was concerned he lost any sympathy from me at that point. Of course, with a lack of mercy and with malice like that, he probably won’t have the last laugh.

While I agree with iamwired assessment earlier, Gene's response was completely out of line and I lost what little respect I had for that stupid little man in that instant. I think I'm going to find every single torrent of KISS albums and videos and download them all. Not that I would give that bozo a penny in the first place for his ridiculous arena rock act I just like the fact that I got something without paying his greedy useless ass.